The Out-lands

[Maximus Plasma]

Report.
Sir the buoys we left behind show all clear.
Excellent, well lets not waste any time . drop us in.
Aye,aye sir. 2/3 impulse. Yellow alert.
I want a status report on the rest of the clan.
Yes sir. Sparrow is with us and following us in.
They will proceed to recover the sensor buoys in system.
While we head to the rally point.
We received word from the rest of our ships they should be at the rally point already sir.
Very well, we rally with the clan. and grab the buoys. Then we get out.

Sir, the Condor and Sparrow are dropping in now sir.
Ah , Omar on time as always. Send to the rest of the clan. Make ready for departure. Remain cloaked unless Omar requests otherwise.
Aye sir sending now.
Eagle, confirms, Raven, confirms, Hawk and Talon, both confirm.
No reply from Robin yet.
Why am i not surprised?
Sir.
Ah, there. Robin confirms sir.

[Gold Centurion]

... Cylons scratching metal heads... Red Eye zigs... pauses ... zags...

[Maximus Plasma]

Sir! the Sparrow just sent a tight beam message. It says the outermost buoy. Has 9 ships dropping into quadrant 4 A , Tentative warp signatures make them out as Federation. At least three C.A hulls and a possible Dn. the rest are either CL's or DD's.
Sparrow is requesting to send the SD code to the buoy.
Yes of course SD. it now! . have the Sparrow make best time to the rendezvous point.
Sir, yes sir.
Sir the Sparrow doesn't think the Feds have spotted her yet. they want to know if you would prefer them to cloak , instead simply running for it?
No, have them head for the rendezvous point. And ask them the for a detailed report on the Fed's formation.
Sir?
I want to know that formation ! Unless I'm mistaken they will have a forward screening element. 2 maybe 3 DD's or FF's.
Yes sir sending now.

He wants what?
A formation report on the feds sir.
Tell him they.....
No wait better not tell him that!
Well what formation are they in? Sir looks like a standard sector combat drop. The 4 heavies are in a typical diamond. The escorts are in a wedge in front. Only one lead point appears to be...yes a NCl hull version unknown.
It seems to be moving out even further now. Just about max prox range for their heavies.
Very well, send that back to Condor.
Sir we should make the rendezvous point in 30 Min's. that will put us about 20 Min's ahead of the lead Fed.

Sir, heres the formation report from Sparrow.
Yes, not what i hoped for but... yes it should still work.
Commander have the fleet stay cloaked. and move to intercept Sparrow.
I want them all to overload all heavy weapons, Even if that means "doubling".
Yes sir?
Now i want everyone to form on us and lets go meet Sparrow. Before we cloak send to Sparrow. "Snare" 8.
Oh Sir yes sir!

Snare 8 ! well now we know why he wanted that report.
Yes sir and here, is where he wants us.
Yes, thats about where i thought. Nav! new heading. 0.10 off plot in 12 Min's. then 3/4 speed. and make ready for a faulty warp sig.
Sir yes sir! ;D
Engineering!
Yes Cappy! ;D I've been copying the relays. One faulty warp Sig in the oven. Do you want to double before.....
Yes Scotty, i want'em to think we blew it 'doubling'.
Aye Cappy.

Sir Sparrow confirms.
Good now lets get some payback!

[ISN War Reporter (Embedded)]

Sounds like a battle?

[Praetor]

Well?
Sir, all ships are in drop formation. The "Gallant" is leading and is beginning
its sensor sweep.
Very well, let me know if they pick up anything.
d**n waste of time if you ask me! Jacobs squadron already kicked their ass out of this sector. Blew up their base, and a light cruiser,chased some frigate out here. With its tail between it legs. Why in the .....
would they come back here for?
Um, well sir Omar is slippery devil. And i guess the "brass" figure he still may have something stashed away in these asteroids. After all they do make a darn good hidey hole.
Yes i know what the "brass's " thinking is but even if they have something hidden out here. What good will it do them now? We blew their base right out from under them!
They can't very well have two bases out here! Even our Intel's couldn't of missed that!
No sir , uh your right about that. Lt commander Jensen turned back toward to his station thinking to himself. Does that jerk ever give any credit to anyone except himself?


Sir, we have the first sensor sweep report . Looks like we got lucky!
There is a signature almost dead ahead. Looking like that same frigate that evaded. Commander Snugss squadron. Warp Sig the same .
And it appears that we caught them in some type of salvage operation.
they're sub-light and have shuttles deployed.
Excellent! Time to intercept?
Sir well we will have to step on it a bit sir. they are out of even long distance range now .
But given our drop speed and acceleration i think we get catch them before they can get up to warp. I would say 10 mins to overtake at full impulse.
Then lets not waste any time get moving! I want that frigate!
The Gallant has a reputation to maintain after all!
Aye aye sir !

Here they come,Cappy!
Yes helm bring us about. and set course for bravo point.
Scotty, you know what to do.
Aye Cappy . Bringing her to 1/2 impulse and tractoring our "recovery" shuttles.

Sir, Gallant reporting. they have a frigate in system. They are in pursuit now sir. They say its warp Sig matches the one that evaded Snuggs.
Estimate 10 mins to overtake.
Well i be , the brass was right! Boy i sure am glad we brought in a battle squadron and a carrier group! that frigate may prove dangerous!
This ought to impress the new prez!
Sir. Jensen just kept his head down and started running the numbers that Gallant had sent. something didn't seem quite right here.

1/2 impulse sir.
Good, distance?
They have the anti-matter cooking sir and are coming on fast. i make it 6mins to intercept.
When they hit 4 mins flip the switch. Scotty?
Oh she's ready Cappy! It's gonna be a beaut!
Don't over do it Scotty, i just need to fool'em for a minute. Once we reach point bravo . It won't matter much what they do!
Aye Cappy still ya hurtin me pride ya'r.

Sir the Gallant is breaking out of formation guidelines sir.
Easy Jensen, let them have their fun.
Or are you afraid that frigate will beat up our boys?
No, no sir just pointing out we are no longer in prox range of our lead ship sir and um well protocol states ....
Jensen. do you see these four bars on my collar?
Um sir yes sir.
Do you think that maybe i should be the one to worry about Gallant and it's "non conforming" Formation position then?
point taken Commander.
Jensen turned back and began tapping his fingers, these numbers just don't look right. That frigate should been able to "double' and kept more distance, maybe she was hurt worse than Snuggs had reported. After all with their base gone they may not have been able to repair as well......

Sir 15 seconds, .....10......5.....4 mins to overtake!
Now! Scotty NOW!

Sir! the frigate it, its slowing down!
Sir our scans show a pretty wild warp flux in their main reactor.
they be about to breach!
watch our distance mister,
Hail them. offer our "assistance" ;D
Yes sir, Unknown Frigate, We are a Federation vessel, you appear to be in distress. Do you require our assistance?

Sir yeah right! Answer them ummm send our reply.
NUTS!
Yes sir! sending "nuts".

Sir we have their reply.
Well?
Um well sir I'm not sure i understand it. but I'm sure i copied it correctly. it's- nuts..... sir
Nuts! Ha well they have a hairy pair of balls alright!
Very well. are they going to breach?
No sir . looks like they must have tried to double and something went wrong but, they lost all engine power and look to be getting ready to abandon ship sir the dropped the tractor on one shuttle and launching another.
Very well , watch those shuttles, i don't trust those bastages!
Send to them to surrender and prepare for boarding.Under the intergalactic anti piracy laws sector 1 chapter 1 . We are about to impress their ship.
sending sir.

Sir their reply is Kiss my ....
Oh they do have a hairy pair!

Sir Sparrow is in position. and the Robin reports the rest of the feds are closing. but seem content on letting their point ship "bag" the Sparrow.
Omar sat back and lifted his hand. Then dropped it in a chopping fashion.
Now ! Uncloak now and blast those arrogant basatagesout of space!

Sir! We have multiple ships uncloaking . in front and behind us!


Sir! The Gallant she's in trouble sir! look!!
No Noooooooooo!
Jensen watched along with Commodore Wilson as the Gallant tried a H.E.T.
and high warp jump. Back toward the fleet.
Even though the high energy turn snapped the bow of the light cruiser back in wrenching 180 degree turn and they began to jump to warp.
It was too late. Four separate tractor beams reached out from the Phoenix clan ships. Locking the Gallant in place.
The burning brilliance of phaser fire from the clan ship tore massive pieces of hull right off the forward saucer of the Gallant. Spilling debris and crew into space. Then both the shuttles of the Sparrow broke open and 6 missiles sped out of one and 3 missiles from the other.
The Gallant would have been able to stop most if not all of the missiles. But with her forward saucer in pieces and it simply could not fire enough defensive phasers. And the the missiles poured into the wounded saucer!
a blinding flash from the explosion . Was clearly captured on the view screen in Wilson's bridge .
Then as it faded .and the debris Field cleared. it showed the broken hull of the Gallant, now saucer-less. Her main torso snapped into 2 pieces.
The Phoenix ships seemed to vanish, one by one. Till they were all gone.
Like wraiths, reaching out they grabbed their prey and snatched their victims souls back into the darkness of the void.

Wilson sat back a look of disbelief on his face . Then anger !
No! d**n him d**n him and all his clan to hell!

Jensen took a step back and sat down on the deck ring above and behind his commodore. All he could think of were the words "do you see these four bars"? Oh he saw them alright!
And when he was done testifying at the review board. He was sure there wouldn't be four bars there much longer!

[Maximus Plasma]

Commodore Wilson, you state in your report that the Gallant had exceeded formation protocols.
Yes that's correct sir
And so why didn't you order her back into formation?
Sir, we had just dropped in, and i ...
I'm sorry commodore, I guess I'm a bit confused. Let me see here,
Ah yes the Gallant did not leave formation until after reporting its initial scans. Correct?
Yes thats correct.
And then they accelerated out of position after the "unidentified" Frigate?
Um yes.
But here is what is confusing me ,commodore. In the initial scan report it states that the warp signature matched one of the Phoenix clans ships.
The same ships that you were sent out to capture or destroy.
Was there a misunderstanding of your orders? You DID understand them DIDN'T you?
I...um.
The Intelligence section had reason to believe the pirates may have returned to that sector. AND that is WHY we sent such a large force
there to deal with them ONCE AND FOR ALL!
Wasn't all that explained to you in the mission briefing?
Um yes it was.
So why , why did you allow the Gallant to go chasing off after that frigate Alone?
I, um, ah well, you see....The inquisitor spun back around to face Wilson on the bench. Pointing his finger and shaking the scanning report in his other hand.
DON'T! DO NOT, even try to convince this court you weren't aware of the dangers out there! We've just confirmed your pre-mission briefing.
And there is hardly an officer in this entire fleet who isn't familiar with the sneaky tricks employed by those pirates!
No commodore. You are completely at fault here! Your own first officers
testimony clearly shows he pointed out to you that the Gallant had exceeded formation protocols! And your rebuke of him is in your ship logs. You dressed him down ! Commodore you are a disgrace to the uniform you wear!
Spinning back to face the panel of fleet officers in the jury box.
the inquisitor proceeded. holding up his hand and raising one finger at a time as he made his case.
First you under estimated your missions importance. Even after your briefing.
Second you failed to provide an adequate screening force when you reached the mission area. Protocol would have had a minimum of 2 to three screening vessels! But in your infinite wisdom you only had one ONE point ship!
Third, as prior officers have testified, you clearly stated you did not believe the intelligence reports, AND thought ordering out your carrier group was total waste of time and resources.
Fourth even after you had proof that there were indeed still phoenix clan
ships in the sector. You ignored your duty. To the men and women under your command. And let a single ship leave formation.
Without so much as a warning! You didn't even urge them to exercise caution!!
Then to complete it all. Even after your own crew pointed out the formation violation. You let the Gallant pursue an obvious target, straight into the jaws of the trap.
Turning, he looked over to the judge advocate. your honor the prosecution rests its case.

[Maximus Plasma]

Danell Jackkson, aka ensign Ben Dover, smiled as he looked for hopefully, the last time, at his comp console.
It had a picture of two Orion pleasure women scantly dressed. serving a tall cool drink on a perfect white beach, with a yellow ocean back drop.
Ahhhh Paradise he thought "not for the first time".
Yes now at last, everything was in place. the program "worm". The new and fool proof program the techs had finally finished writing.
Well fool proof against everything except his "worm" of course.
He had made contact with Omar's man. A shifty eyed lean stranger.
He didn't look any too trustworthy to Danell. But then he really didn't have any choice. He ,"Omar's man" had assured him.
Of course, I can get you away!. They won't even know where to begin looking for you! ;D
Just make sure you have the "package". You don't play fast with Omar.
Danell had no intention of trying to play it fast, that was not an option.
No once he pulled the switch. There wouldn't be any time for trickery.
Everything had to work like clockwork. First the Techies would run the program in the lab. Then he would report to the station commander.
Who would want a demonstration " of course".
That would be the last time anyone ever saw Ben Dover.
Poor fellow , killed in an freak accident testing the jump gate.
But what would really happen. He would fire up the gate. "new program and all". It would seem to work just fine. He would walk up it.
then he would key the fireworks! as he reached the end of the ramp. a power surge would knock out the lights and security systems.
He would use the "present" from Omar. A personnel Cloaking device.
Once he was cloaked . He would have exactly 2 minutes. to grab the ZPM.
And reach the forward observation deck. Normally a brisk walk of 30 seconds from the gate room. Once he reached the Ob deck.
The internal beaming program. Would beam him to the shuttle bay.
Where "Omar's man " had a small container waiting for him. He would enter the container. and the crew loading it. None the wiser due to the cloaking device. would innocently load the container on the out bound shuttle .
When the shuttle launched. Precisely 30 seconds before the power would be restored in the gate room.
The Freighter "Omar's man" had hired. would beam him out of the container. And poof! poor Danell Jackkson would be dead. And the station would be missing one ZPM! ;D
The freighter already pre checked by sector customs would clear the sector in a little under 2 hours. Warp to rendezvous with a Romulan war bird. the War bird would deliver him to Verga. And once he reached Verga.
He would hand off the package to one of Omar's agents and get his final payment. a cool 2 million federation credits! ;D ;D
Danell looked at the timer on the wall. ah! ;D time to go! He reached over to the console and switched it off. Stood up patted his pockets checking for the cloaking device. Feeling the device he smiled, and confidently, walked out of his cabin for the last time.

[Maximus Plasma]

Omar, relaxed sitting back at his command chair. Vengeance had a sweet taste. He was was far from satisfied. after all the Federation dogs , had hunted down his clan. Destroying one of their finest ships, and
completely wrecking their home (base).
They had displaced the Phoenix clan from their adopted home sector, forcing them out.
Now he and his clan would have to start over. They however did have a much more to start with , than before. The capture of the Federations Base building fleet. Took some of the sting out.
A Fleet repair Dock. More of a small mobile repair base really than a ship.
But still a ship. A huge cumbersome ship by anyones view. And the accompanying freighters. Well most of them. .
Of course the federation wasn't too happy about losing that convoy. ;D
And Omar knew, they already would have every scout ship. And a good many others out looking for them.
That the FRD was the slowest ship in the quadrant didn't help.
And the freighters weren't much faster.But he had his best captain herding them out to their new home though. The FLY.
If anyone could get them out it would be the Fly. Plus He had his contacts still in place. Well contacts is what he thought of them as. Most would of called them spies.
Then the the destination of the convoy also would be unexpected.
The Federation was sure to concentrate it's search in almost the opposite direction. They would start by looking toward the Phoenix's "old" home sector. Thinking of course that the clan would be trying to sneak it out through one of the asteroid fields near either the Klingon or Romulan borders, Or possibly head into Lyran or WYN space.
And all of those possibilities had to be covered. But the Outlands . Was the last place anyone would expect them to run. After all the BORG had come through the Outlands, leaving a trail of destruction and destitute star systems in their wake.
Or so everyone thought! True the Borg did come through the Outlands. And true they did assimilate everything in their path. But what was not directly in their path,the unsettled sectors. Still held many unsettled planetary systems. The one the Borg ignored because they weren't ever settled. Oh a few had some pre-space cultures on them. And The Federations Primary rule, of non-intervention with pre-space cultures.
Had kept them out of the badlands even before the Borg invasion.
It never occurred to them that the Borg simply ignored lower tech cultures but went after Space capable ones. ;D ;D
Well the Phoenix clan didn't suffer from such foolish doctrine.
In fact Omar fully intended to approach them. They would make a fertile
Field from which to grow the clan. Omar's vision was was more than a clan. It was an empire. An empire his clan would found. An empire for freedom loving men to grow in. And who loved their freedom more than a pirate! An empire of pirates! Feeding off the decadence that the current nations had fallen into. It was time, to start a new empire.
And just as their name implied. Rising up from the ashes.
This new empire would grow! Like a PHOENIX! ;D

[Maximus Plasma]

The fly sat, sat looking dejected. One more delay. One delay after another. They were adding up, these delays. He had known that the task, of moving such a large convoy, would be a challenge. He had done everything he could to expiated it. Transferring crews from his ships to the prizes. Till his own ships were running with skeleton crews.
The truth of the matter was. They hadn't planned on being as successful, as they were. Who'd thought all but two of the freighters,and the FRD would fall into their hands. But as he was finding out now, success, can demand a high price. The long duty hours demanded as a consequence of "loaning" out his ships crews to the prizes. Resulted in short tempers and mistakes. Painful as it all was though. They still were ahead of Federations attempts to find them.
The FRD's incipient pace was frustrating. Of course the freighters weren't much faster. They had finally decided to beach the crews of the prizes. Leaving them on a abandoned mining asteroid. Left with enough supplies, to last them. Till the federation, finally figured out which direction they had really gone.
That had helped the crewing problem, no more prisoners to watch or worry over.
But the delays persisted. These Federation ships weren't all they were cracked up to be. The FRD was fine well maintained, in fact it was in tip top shape.
But the freighters. It seems that freighters drew the last straw. When it came to crew assignments. The worst cadets, and to supervise them the most lazy and incompetent nco's and officers.
The result was predictable. Ships that had maitence problems and were poorly supplied.
The Flys crew, were experienced veterans. Everyone a lifelong spacer. Often coming from a family of lifelong spacers. They all knew the value and need of keeping their ships in top shape.
And having found their prizes in such poor shape surprised them.
Oh they had seen poorly maintained freighters before. After all they were pirates! But those were private and corporate ships. These were Federation naval ships! They should have been in tip top shape! But what they should of been, and what they were ...well as his papa used to say
"don't buy it till ya try it"
So now here they are, stuck at warp 1.5. The best speed of the slowest freighter prize. Waiting and praying that the new crew would be able to repair it up to pirate standards!
Don't worry Omar thought the Fly . We'll be there sooner or latter!